So, this “smartschoolboy9 chasing kid” thing. It wasn’t some grand project, you know? More like one of those afternoon itches I just had to scratch. I found myself with a bit of unexpected free time, the kind that usually leads to me either cleaning out the garage or starting some pointless digital experiment. Guess which one won this time.
It all started when I was rummaging through old hard drives. Found a folder named “smartschoolboy9_projects”. Man, that was my online handle ages ago. Corny, right? Anyway, it got me thinking about those simple little programs I used to bash out. And then, for some reason, the image of a little dot chasing another little dot popped into my head. The “kid” being chased, and “smartschoolboy9” doing the chasing. Seemed like a fun, stupid thing to try and whip up again, just for kicks.
Getting Started – The So-Called Plan
I didn’t want to get bogged down in fancy engines or complex setups. No way. This was supposed to be quick and dirty. I figured I’d just use a super basic graphics library, something I could get pixels on the screen with, fast. The “kid” would just move randomly, or maybe I’d control it with the mouse for testing. And “smartschoolboy9”? Well, he was supposed to be the “smart” one.
My first attempt at making him chase was, well, hilariously bad. I just told him: “See kid? Go to kid.” So, he’d calculate the straight line and zoom off. If the kid moved, smartschoolboy9 would often overshoot like a drunken missile. Or, if the kid was clever and dodged at the last second, my chaser would just zip past and then slowly, painfully turn around. Not very smart, that boy.
Trying to Add Some Brains
Okay, so direct line chasing was a bust. I thought, “Right, he needs to anticipate a bit, or at least turn more smoothly.” I started fiddling with vectors, trying to make his movement less jerky. Then I thought about adding a tiny bit of prediction – where would the kid be in a few frames? That just opened a whole new can of worms. My “simple afternoon project” was starting to feel like homework.
- Tried making him adjust his speed.
- Played with turning radiuses.
- Even thought about a super-basic A pathfinding, then laughed at myself. For two squares on a blank screen? Get real.
The truth is, this whole endeavor wasn’t really about achieving perfect AI. It was more about the process, the tinkering. It reminded me of being an actual schoolboy, staying up late, fueled by cheap soda, trying to get some janky piece of code to work for a science fair project that was probably doomed from the start. There was a certain charm to failing, trying again, and then maybe, just maybe, seeing a flicker of what you intended.
Actually, why was I even doing this? I was supposed to be sorting out my tax receipts. Yeah, thrilling stuff. This “smartschoolboy9” distraction was my brain’s way of screaming, “Anything but spreadsheets!” It’s funny how the mind works. Faced with a truly boring task, it’ll cook up the most random, time-consuming alternatives. And I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. Spent a good few hours pushing those digital squares around instead of confronting the pile of paper threatening to engulf my desk.
The “Grand” Finale
So, did smartschoolboy9 ever become truly smart? Nah, not really. I got him to a point where he was less idiotic. He wouldn’t overshoot as much, and his turns were a bit more convincing. He could generally catch the “kid” if the kid wasn’t too erratic. But a mastermind AI? Far from it. He was more like a slightly determined, slightly clumsy schoolboy. Which, I guess, was fitting.
In the end, I just saved the file, called it “chase_v0_whatever,” and closed it down. Didn’t even bother polishing it. The urge was satisfied. The garage is still a mess, and those tax receipts… well, they eventually got sorted, a day later than planned. But for a brief while, I was back to being smartschoolboy9, chasing a digital ghost, and it was a pretty decent way to waste an afternoon, all things considered. Sometimes, that’s all a project needs to be.
